Author: Kevin Wondrash

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Kevin Wondrash

What’s POLST? Another medical decision tool . . . with big problems

John Bohn, M.D.

Medical care decisions can be difficult, emotional, and often very confusing. And adding more forms to fill out can make it seem overwhelming. This is especially true for serious medical decisions involving end-of-life issues or other situations that may call for life- sustaining treatments.

In recent years, a new form has been heavily promoted as a “tool” to deal with such matters in hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics across the country. It is called the POLST form. POLST stands for “Physician’s Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment.”

Think twice about POLST

But should you have a POLST form on file? Promotors see it as a tool to effectively translate patient wishes about life-sustaining treatment into medical orders that is easily accessed from their medical record.

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Kevin Wondrash

Have faith in the invisible realities

This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

This past weekend we celebrated our Second Sunday of Easter — Divine Mercy Sunday — and the readings point in a particular way to the way we as a Christian people are called to respond, when acting simply in faith.

In the Gospel, we saw our Lord appear in His resurrected body, and we heard him speak to Thomas and the Apostles saying, “Blessed are they who have not seen but have believed (Jn 20:29).” These are words which are terribly important for our country and for our culture and for our day and age.

Some say truth found only in science

Our country and our culture and our day and age have tried to convince us that the only truth is to be found in science, that is, seeing what is visible by some method of physical observation, by some scientific method. If there is some kind of physical seeing possible, then we have truth. I see it with my own eyes!

Our strides in science are wonderful and our knowledge impressive, but what does Jesus say to us? “Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The Gospel tells us that knowledge by grace, knowledge from God’s point of view, gives us far more certainty than science, which is limited to picturing how things go in the physical world. We continue to have a greater and greater understanding of how things work in our physical world, but there is far more to understand.

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Kevin Wondrash

Recognizing the ‘glance’ of Jesus

This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

As I write down a few thoughts here, we are entering — with heavy hearts — into the great and holy week during which we accompany Jesus in His terrible suffering and death.

As we go through Holy Week we shall hear a great many words — from the beautiful language of the sacred liturgies, to the readings themselves — including the telling of the Passion story, and of course, the many readings of the Easter Vigil.

From “Hosanna” to “Alleluia,” we will hear told, and even witness represented, the story of our own salvation.

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Kevin Wondrash

Relics of Christ’s Passion to be presented at Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe

LA CROSSE — The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe will host the Relics of the Passion program throughout Divine Mercy weekend, Friday through Sunday, April 1 to 3, starting at 10 a.m. each day. The program will be at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

The event, designed to connect participants to the roots of their faith, is sponsored by the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in collaboration with the Apostolate for Holy Relics (AHR), an organization founded 10 years ago in Los Angeles.

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